Latch mechanism



United States Patent Primary Examiner-Marvin A. Champion AssistantExaminer-Robert L. Wolfe Attorney-Drummond, Cahill and PhillipsABSTRACT: A rectangular housing is provided with a closed top and aremovable bottom. Openings in one side of the housing permit theextension of a latch member and a plunger. The latch member is pivotallymounted within the housing and is spring-loaded to a locked position;the plunger is springloaded to extend from the housing. A removablebottom is provided with a tubular guide for receiving a trigger shaftslidably mounted therein. The trigger shaft is positioned beneath thelatch member to cause the latter to pivot to an unlocked position. Thetrigger shaft extends'from the housing through the tubular guide andterminates in a flared end to facilitate manual actuation of the latchmember. A latch plate includes a surface positionable opposite theopenings in the housing for abutment with the plunger; further, thelatch plate includes an opening to receive the portion of the latchmember extending from the housing to secure the latch plate in position.

Patented Nov. 10, 1970 INVENTOR. WILLIE L. ATTAWAY ATTORNEYS LATCH.MECHANESM The present invention pertains to latch mechanisms, and moreparticularly, to a mechanism for latching and conveniently unlatchingthe doors of cabinets. In many rooms, such as kitchens, floor-mountedcabinets are provided for storage. The cabinets characteristically havedoors which are latched in the closed position by a variety of prior artlatch mechanisms. Generally, these latch mechanisms require a handle'tobe affixed to the outside of the door or, alternatively, include somesort of latch trip or release mechanism manually operable to unlock thelatch. Under some circumstances, especially when the operators hands areoccupied such as by holding packages, it is exceedingly inconvenient toattempt to unlatch the cabinet door. To overcome this difficulty, remotelatch releasing mechanisms have been proposed in the prior art but havesuffered from the complexitics of the mechanism, rendering the apparatusexpensive to manufacture, expensive to install, or unreliable inoperation.

It is therefore an object ofthe present invention to provide a latchmechanism intended for maintaining a cabinet door locked and which maybe unlatched by remote operation.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a latchmechanism that is manually actuated by foot and does not requiretouching of any hardware on the cabinet door.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a latchmechanism that may be foot-operated and which, when operated, willforcibly open the cabinet door.

These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent tothose skilled in the art as the description thereof proceeds.

The present invention may more readily be described by reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view, partly in section and partly exploded, ofa latch mechanism constructed in accordance with the teachings of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view, partly in section, of the latchmechanism of FIG. 1 in situ.

Referring now to the drawings, the mechanism of the present inventionincludes a rectangular housing having a top 11 and an open bottom 12.The housing includes a pair of openings 13 and 14 in one side 15 of thehousing. A latch member is pivotally mounted within the housing by meansof a pivot pin 21 extending through a pin support 22 through the latch20 into the remote side (not shown) of the housing. A spring-biasingmeans in the form ofa coil spring 23 is fitted over an upright extension24 on the latch and is compressed between the latch 20 and the top 11 ofthe housing. The latch member 20 includes a camming surface 25 and alocking shoulder 26.

A plunger is axially movably mounted in the housing 10 and extendsthrough the opening 14 as shown in FIG. 1. The plunger 30 mayconveniently be of dual diameter with the smaller diameter portion 31extending through the farther end 32 of the housing. A coil spring 34 iscompressed between the end 32 of the housing and a shoulder 35 formedintegral with the plunger 30.

To facilitate fastening the housing to a surface, flanges on either sideof the housing, such as flange 38, are provided and include openings 39to receive screws. A removable bottom member 40 isprovided with steppededges 41 and 42 to facilitate proper fitting of the bottom to thehousing 10. The removable bottom 40 includes an opening 43 and is alsoformed integrally with a tubular guide 44. A trigger shaft 46 in theform of a cylindrical shaft slidably fits into the tubular A latch plate56 is generally L-s'naped in cross section and includes openings 57 toreceive screws forattachment to an appropriate'surface. The plateincludes a surface 58 which, when the latch plate is in the latchedposition, opposes the openings 13 and 14 in the side of the housing 20.In this manner, the surface 58 abuts the plunger 30 and a portion of thesurface 59 acts as a striker plate for engaging the camming surface 25of the latch 20. A latch opening 60 is provided in the latch plate 56 toreceive the latch 20 in locking engagement therewith.

The housing 10 will conventionally be installed on the floor 61 of acabinet at that location where the cabinet has an overhang and adjacentthe cabinet door. A hole 62 will first be drilled in the cabinet floorand the tapered tubular guide 44 will be driven therein. Subsequently,the housing 10 will be placed over theremovable bottom 40 and fastenedin place by means of screws 63. The latch plate 56 will then be fastenedin the appropriatelocation on the cabinet door 65 by means of screws 66.Thus, as the cabinet door is closed, the portion of the surface 59acting as a striker plate will engage the camming surface 25 of thelatch member 20, causing the latter to pivot about its pivot pin 21against the force of the coil spring 23. The surface 58 will abut theplunger 30, causing the latter to be forced into the housing 10 againstthe force of the coil spring 34. Continued closing movement of thecabinet door will result in the latch 20 snapping into the latch opening60 to cause the shoulder 26 to lockingly engage the latch plate 56. Atthis point, the coil spring 34 will be compressed and the plunger 30will be exerting a continuous force against the surface 58. When thecabinet is to be opened, the toe of the foot is inserted under theoverhang of the cabinet and under the flared end of the trigger shaft46. Upward motion of the toe imparted to the trigger shaft will forcethe latter against the latch member 20. The latch member is subsequentlypivoted about .its pivot pin 21 to compress the coil spring 23.Continued pivotal movement of the latch member 20 results in the liftingof the shoulder 26 out of engagement with the latch plate. At thismoment, the force of the compressed coil spring 34 acting on the plunger30 will push the latch plate 56, and the attached cabinet door, awayfrom the housing 10. It may therefore be seen that the cabinet door willbe opened by merely actuating the trigger shaft with the toe of the footwithout intervention of the hands and without the utilization of complexremote latching mechanisms. The elements of the combination areconveniently formed at little expense and, when assembled, are compactand rugged to provide inexpensive but reliable latching.

lclaim:

1. A latch mechanism comprising: a rectangular housing having a closedtop and an open bottom and having a pair of openings in one sidethereof; a latch member pivotally mounted within said housing andextending outwardly through one of said openings and verticallypivotable between a locked and unlocked position; spring-biasing meansconnected to said latch member for pivoting said latch member to saidlocked position; a plunger axially movably mounted within said housingand extending outwardly through the other of said openings; secondspring-biasing means connected to said plunger for urging said plungeroutwardly of said housing; a bottom member removably positioned over atleast a portion of said open bottom and having an opening thereinaligned guide and extends through the opening 43 in the removable bottom40. It may be noted that the opening 43 in the bottom 40 is positionedso that when the bottom is in place, the axis 47 of the trigger shaftintersects the latch member 20. The

' trigger shaft 46 is provided with a flared end 50 to facilitate withsaid latch member; and a trigger shaft, movably extending through theopening in said bottom member and having an axis intersecting said latchfor contact with said latch member to force the latter to pivot saidunlocked position.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1, including a tubular guidesecured to said bottom member communicating with the opening in saidbottom member and extending away from said housing to guide said triggershaft.

3. The combination set forth in claim 1, wherein said trigger shaftextends from said housing and terminates in a flared end to facilitateimparting movement thereto.

3 4 4. The combination set forth in claim 2, wherein said trigger platehaving a surface opposing the openings in the side of said shaft extendsfrom said housing and terminates in a flared end housing for abutmentwith said plunger, and having a latch to facilitate imparting movementthereto. opening to receive said latch member.

5. The combination set forth in claim 4, including a latch

